In an effort to encourage greater housing and business development, the city of Forest Grove wants to rezone certain residential and commercial areas to allow for a mix of housing, retail, and office space.

The staff offered the reclassification of certain residential and commercial areas around Forest Grove for what's referred to as mixed-use development, which blends housing and commercial uses.

These zones included: the northwest quadrant of Thatcher Road and David Hill Road; Gales Creek Road and Thatcher Road; the David Hill Road area along Highway 47, which was the site of the Silverstone subdivision; and the area east of Sunset Drive and southwest of Highway 47.

The staff also recommended the expansion of the city's town center area, which is bounded by B Street, 21st Avenue, Cedar Street and 19th Avenue. It proposed an increase of its target development density from 20.28 units per acre to 40 units.

The report cited potential amenities to the development such as "wide sidewalks, a public plaza, storefront retail space, pedestrian scale lighting or signage, or public art." The proposal, the report stated, would affect 56 acres in the town center excluding Pacific University.

Riordan told commissioners Monday night the proposed update to the Comprehensive Plan would reflect how the city has changed since the plan was first adopted in 1980.

The city's population has nearly doubled, from 11,500 in 1980 to more than 21,000 in 2010, according to the staff report. The construction of Highway 47 bypass in the 1990s also affected traffic patterns in the city.

The city's community development staff sent roughly 258 notices to the property owners in the proposed areas via direct mail and invited owners to an open house on Oct. 8 to discuss the land use proposals. The staff received both complaints and notes of support for the proposed map amendments.

Forest Grove residents Robert Brown and Patrice Spath wrote in a letter that the proposal to create high-density residential units and commercial developments near the 19th Ave. area of the town center boundary would "adversely affect my property…and other historic properties in Forest Grove."

Public hearings before the Planning Commission will continue in the coming weeks to discuss other portions of the updated comprehensive plan. These include the city's Transportation System Plan on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Forest Grove Community Auditorium and Public Facilities/Community Services and Natural Resources and Hazards on Dec. 2 at the same time and location.

After the Planning Commission's review, the updated comprehensive plan will likely go before the City Council in February 2014.